Blue Highway

BLUE HIGHWAY

SOME DAY: Fifteenth Anniversary Collection

Release Date is January 19, 2010

The sheer amount of musical ground covered here boggles the mind. First of all, this is the same lineup that started this band a decade and a half ago (no small feat, folks). Each one is extraordinary, and they sing and play together like the family they are, after 15 years of recording and touring together. This album is a celebration of that musical, mystical synergy, and it passed my acid test for a “stand-the-test-of-time” record: I was alternately yanked, drug, gently led, pushed, cajoled, and carried through these 13 tracks, and I was left emotionally both spent and exuberant at the end. It is simply a thrilling collection of performances.

The play-out…is wonderful. You can feel the joy (even in the pain) of the musicians dancing with each other. I love it when we are generously invited to savor all the little extras, the times when a track is allowed to play out and we get to hear the musicians riffing with each other for the sheer joy of it.

The CD is a collection of the best of their Rounder recordings, one cut from Rob Ickes’ solo album, and 3 new selections.  This album has quickly made its way onto my list of all-time favorite records, in any genre. The sense I have at the end of this excellent collection is of a group that is evolving together, pushing and inspiring each other, and who are just scratching the surface of the legacy they will leave for all of us to enjoy.

I can’t wait for the next 15 years!

- excerpt from the liner notes, courtesy of Kathy Mattea, September 2009